Monday, February 03, 2020

Two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl

My irrational optimism for 2020 remains more or less diminished, even though it is becoming ever harder (even harder) to justify.  We had our second runner of the year at Lingfield on Saturday and that didn't go particularly well.  The Rocket Park finished sixth of eight, which was OK even if his run was rather lack-lustre.  It then became apparent why his performance had been a bit flat: he completed the course fine, but it was clear on pulling up that he had gone lame in his near fore leg.  This was as surprising as it was worrying as he had never had any front leg problems in the five years he's been here.

It isn't too serious but he'll need a break.  It has not yet been possible to work out what has caused it, but we'll continue to monitor him.  The vets at Lingfield were outstanding.  They were understandably concerned that he might have fractured a bone in his leg, even though it was not possible to guess where in the leg that might have been.  So they X-rayed the whole leg, starting at the bottom and working up above the knee.  There were no signs of a fracture on the X-ray, which was good; nor any indication of a soft-tissue injury.  Anyway, he'll be resting in his stable for a while now, but at least it's nothing too serious.

Aside from that, it was a pleasant trip.  It was a lovely spring-like day and the traffic was good in both directions.  And, although I'd rather not have been in a position to have a horse receiving veterinary attention, it was good to find how top-notch the veterinary services there are.  They couldn't have been more helpful or more diligent.  And while we're handing out plaudits, it's worth mentioning that the people who are running the canteen there now are very good indeed too.  George Hill did a great job when he was clerk of the course at Brighton, and now things look to be going very well under his direction at Lingfield too.

On a completely different subject, recent politics have been no laughing matter but I did have a little xenophobia-related chuckle the other day.  I didn't read it, but I believe that there was an article in the Racing Post a couple of weeks ago saying that it is tough for punters having to cope with so many good jumps horses having French names; and that it should be possible to change these names when the horses come to the British Isles to make them more pleasing to anglophones.  This idea is clearly very much in line with the general zeitgeist in England at present.

Anyway, one thing which often gives me cause for amusement is a facility which exists on the racing administration website.  When one checks the availability of a name for a horse, if the name is not available the computer offers one some alternative suggestions.  (God only knows why).  Anyway, I was looking up the availability of a name the other day: Wish You Were Here, the Pink Floyd song.  I would have been surprised if it were available, and indeed it wasn't.  So the computer gave me some suggestions instead.  Southampton Dock wasn't one of them, nor was Comfortably Numb; but, it tells me, a dozen names with no connection to Pink Floyd are available: "Wish You Wow, Wisigo, Wisigothe, Wising Up, Wiske House, Wiskey Prince, Wiskhert, Wiskola ...".  But the real brahma is the name which came in ninth on the list: Wisla De Mesliere.  Please don't tell the Racing Post about this.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Brilliant post. I've been struggling with the "thousand days of January" but this gave me a real lift and had me chuckling out loud. You win the Bafta for the best use of the word zeitgeist in an original sentence.

Brian Jones said...

It makes you wonder why that name isn't avaialble as no horse on the Racing Post database has/had it [GB]. May have been reserved?

I did note the other day on reading a book that an owner tried for a name that wasn't available but couldn't understand why and so phoned Weatherbys and infact it was available as soon as someone had clicked available their end, following the phone call. Worth a check it thats the desire.